PGF

Early Thanksgiving: Last Big Showcase of ‘15

Early Thanksgiving: Last Big Showcase of ‘15

This weekend, the last major club softball showcase of 2015 takes place and it’s hugely important for one simple reason.“The Surf City Early Thanksgiving Sh

Nov 20, 2015 by Brentt Eads
Early Thanksgiving: Last Big Showcase of ‘15
This weekend, the last major club softball showcase of 2015 takes place and it’s hugely important for one simple reason.

“The Surf City Early Thanksgiving Showcase is especially meaningful in terms of recruiting,” explains legendary coach Gary Haning, the Co-Event Director, “as college coaches found out a week ago in the Signing Period who they did or did not get so they’re looking for someone else.”

In other words, college coaches have a greater sense of urgency in filling and the Surf City event is the last big “shopping excursion” before the holidays.

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Gary Haning (seen here) and Dan Hay run the Surf City Tourneys including the prestigious Early Thanksgiving Showcase.
The Early Thanksgiving event—formerly called the Pre-Thanksgiving Showcase—has been around close to 20 years and according to Haning predates the hugely successful Surf City Tourneys, of which about a dozen are fun annually, by at least five years.

“Back in the old days,” Haning, who runs the Surf City Tournaments with Dan Hay, the other Co-Event Director, says, “the big tournaments of the fall were the Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas tournaments.  When colleges put in a recruiting blackout prior to Thanksgiving, it wiped out the recruiting part of the Christmas tournament and moved the Thanksgiving tournament up a week.”

“Early on, there were two big showcases in Southern California, the OctoberFest and our Pre-Thanksgiving Showcase.  Now, there’s a showcase or tournament every weekend of the fall across the country but the Early Thanksgiving is still our biggest tournament we do of the year in terms of numbers.”

The tournament will draw 330 teams from across the nation in the 18U, 16U and 14U age groups.  Teams from every region except the Deep South will be represented and will play at a dozen venues across Southern California.

It’s a last opportunity to get in some highly competitive softball play before the Holidays and major teams from all over the country take advantage of it.

Many of the top organizations in club ball, including the OC Batbusters, Corona Angels, Explosion, Firecrackers, All American Sports Academy, Jersey Intensity, So Cal A’s, So Cal Choppers, Lady Lightning and dozens more, will take the fields including the Huntington Beach Complex where the PGF Nationals are held.

They’ll come from as far away as Rhode Island (RI Thunder) to the East and Hawaii (Milani Prep) to the West to begin competition today and play through Sunday.

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To get more information on the showcase—including participating teams and game schedules—go to the Surf City Early Thanksgiving Showcase home page.